Second generation LOOP sets up Levidian for global success
Levidian has launched its second-generation LOOP technology, which will unlock industrial levels of production of high-quality graphene for the first time.
At the heart of LOOP is a patented ‘nozzle’ where microwave energy is applied to crack methane into its component parts, creating clean hydrogen and capturing carbon in the form of high purity graphene.
A single nozzle will be capable of producing around 15 tonnes of graphene a year – enough, for example, to transform the performance of thousands of electric vehicles with graphene-enhanced batteries and tyres so that cars can go further for longer with less impact on the environment.
The company is targeting annual production of more than 50,000 tonnes of graphene by 2030 from a network of LOOP devices that will make Levidian one of the largest producers of graphene in the world, while driving down the emission of around three million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.
Levidian started off as Cambridge Nanosystems, a 2012 University of Cambridge spin-out. Nearly eight years were spent focused on both graphene and technology R&D and patent development, but by 2014 co-founder and chief scientists Catharina Paukner was being called the UK’s ‘Queen of Graphene’. In late 2020 the business was acquired, commercialised and renamed Levidian. Its LOOP technology is a pre-combustion decarbonisation system, a hydrogen production system and a high value graphene generator.
Today the market-leading LOOP system provides heavy emitters and hard-to-abate industries such as landfill and aluminium producers with a route to both decarbonise their processes and open up new revenue streams from the graphene and hydrogen that is produced. This unlocks decarbonisation projects that might not otherwise happen due to cost.
The first-generation system has sold to more than 10 customers globally.
John Hartley, CEO of Levidian, said: “We believe that graphene is going to play a central role in helping the world’s most carbon intensive businesses to decarbonise, solving the business case on decarbonisation projects thanks to its short return on investment, and delivering performance improvements on just about every product it touches.
“With this latest technology release, we’re setting graphene on a pathway to the mainstream, putting all the old issues of quality and scale aside to deliver unparalleled levels of graphene production that is less carbon intensive, more affordable and a higher quality than anything else on the market today.”
Levidian already has 10 LOOPs deployed or under construction globally including a pioneering biogas to hydrogen pilot at United Utilities’ Manchester Bioresources Centre, which is supported by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s Hydrogen BECCS Innovation Programme.
Climate minister Kerry McCarthy said: “Levidian’s LOOP technology, backed by a share of £3.2m of our innovation funding, showcases British ingenuity at its finest, turning the challenge of industrial decarbonisation into an opportunity for jobs and growth.”
Levidian chief technology officer Alistair Donaldson said: “We’re unlocking a future for graphene that has been 20 years in the making. But we know it’s not enough to just make graphene. We’re opening up this supermaterial as a viable solution to industrial decarbonisation.”
